Beyond Meat will be serving their new vegan chicken at different Whole Foods all over SF next week! Apparently it’s very convincing, as you might have heard… it seems like every time I turn around I hear somebody (NPR, New York Times, and my beloved Vegansaurus buddies) talking about how it’s going to be the patron saint of palates as soon as we all get to taste it. Their rep emailed me today with their tasting schedule (below), and they’re also going to be in the WF hot bars, which I dig as I am a connoisseur (connoisseuse?) of salad bars. Food I already wanted to try at a place I already want to eat: yusssss.

Friends and acquaintances often ask me what I think of vegan meat substitutes. I don’t feel the need to make them a regular part of my diet, for a number of reasons. First, they can be expensive; second, I often find them overly processed– though, as Mark Bittman points out, a chicken and a machine can both take grains in, process them, and turn them into an edible substance that no longer resembles those grains. The difference is that the chicken dies to produce the edible substance, while the machine does not.

In general, I don’t feel the need to include faux meats in my diet because a) the reason I don’t eat meat is that I don’t like it all that much and b) my plant-based diet provides all the nutrients and variety I need; I don’t feel deprived without meat, or even substitutes thereof. That said, faux meats are nice for variety every once in awhile, and they can help ease the transition to veganism. Also, they make the life of the omnivore accommodating a vegan guest or family member easier, which is important to me, since one of the hardest parts about being vegan for me is knowing I’m putting people out. People are animals, too!

…The process and ingredient list behind this frankenfood “vegan” chicken before claiming it is in any way comparable to the nutritional content of organic, free range chicken. Don’t forget: Grain production and machine production kills animals too.

“no saturated or trans fat, no cholesterol, no gluten, no antibiotics, no GMOs…and no meat” and if you took the time to follow one link (http://beyondmeat.com/products/) you would see the nutritional info for comparison.

As for grain production killing animals too – what do you think they feed animals raised for slaughter? whatever small harm to animals a vegan diet does incidentally is levels of magnitude smaller than even an ‘ethical meat’ diet which relies on the same grains but in far greater amounts to be fed to animals to produce the same amount of nutrition.

Sustainable livestock (local, grass/rotation fed, not grain fed) do less harm than massive soy and grain operations that destroy the quality of soil, displace wildlife and leach absurd amounts of pesticides/fertilizers into the water table. Besides, it’s not as much food that is the problem, it’s overpopulation.

…Another imagined straw man to go with your red herring? A vegan diet is not a complete diet for an omnivore. Plain and simple. Plus…

Grain-based, vegetarian agriculture attempts to eliminate a crucial player in the normal life cycle of the planet. Animals, which provide manure, calcium, and other nutrients for the soil, have to be part of the equation. Whenever a culture turns to a grain-based agricultural system, these same problems arise. Annual grain crops killed the American prairie and, for the vegans out there, they kill the millions of animals, bugs, and birds that rely on specific ecosystems to survive. Not to mention the mice, rabbits, and other wild animals whose environments are leveled to make way for industrial farming. Machines that worked the soybean fields were greased with the blood of a thousand organisms. The vegetarian’s wheat crops feed millions, but robs the land of nutrients and destroys the top soil necessary for life.

A balanced vegan diet is perfectly fine. There are many lifelong vegans around the world (China an India stand out) including in North America.

Speaking of straw men: whoever suggested that veganism or vegetarianism is attempting to eliminate animals? Most vegans and vegetarians actually like animals and would like nothing more than for all of them to live long and productive lives in their appropriate spot in ecosystems. The factory farming you refer to is largely done to support the slaughter industry (as it takes many times the amount of grain fed to a slaughter animal than to a human to extract the same energy and nutrition). Again I’ll point out the absurdity of saying that grains for vegans somehow kill more animals than grains for slaughter animals – it simply isn’t true.

Humans are omnivores and denying so is delusional. Claiming that a vegan diet is nutritionally complete without pills or obscenely processed frankenfoods is also a complete lie. There are numerous scientific studies done in regards to chronic B12 deficiencies among vegans as well.

Vegan farming destroys the environment just as much as big, industrial grain-fed meat production, wether you think the death of animals matter more depending on size or species is irrelevant: It still screams hypocrisy on the part of vegans who complain about their imagined, first world problems. Again, I do not support grain fed livestock. I support grass-fed, local. So you can drop the grain-fed livestock PETA propaganda now.

Invoking the “supposed to” phrase supposes that there is some one or some process that is actively purposing us to be a certain way — which there is NOT, unless you believe in a God, or a Mother Earth that actively directs evolution.

Hey moron: I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with B12 (maybe you’re lacking some other vital substance? Like braaaiiins?) but, FYI — my multivitamin has 300% of the daily requirement of B12. Also, I no longer have to die from bacterial infections, thanks to antibiotics. Aint science grand?

I just don’t get the whole faux meat thing. I dated a vegan for 6 years, and as an avid cook, learned to prepare a whole rainbow of vegan dishes, but they were based upon celebrating whole grains and veggies, not faking meat with substandard, uber-processed weird “food”. If you are craving meat that much, why not the occasional splurge on humanely produced quality meats/dairy/eggs?

Also, all those wheat meat and soy protein products are essentially ultra-processed junk food. Contrary to what one would think, I constantly see a lot of chubby vegans, mostly non-cooks, who subsist on a diet of fake meat/fake dairy without the benefit of the Wide World of Veggies and Whole Grains–I just don’t see the point. Very moderate consumption of top quality sustainable meat/dairy/eggs is how I roll.

Did you bother to read the post you’re commenting on, rather than just skimming it? I think not.

Caroline says, “[...]they make the life of the omnivore accommodating a vegan guest or family member easier, which is important to me, since one of the hardest parts about being vegan for me is knowing I’m putting people out.”

The other side of that, is that they make the life of the vegan cooking for nutcase anti-vegan relatives and similar types somewhat easier.

Yeah, read it. Thanx for your assumption! Still not a fan of fake meat. Omnivores can accomodate vegan guests in many other ways than fake meat–heck there are entire ethnic cuisines with multitudes of vegan dishes that somehow don’t involve fakery.

Besides that, if the omnivore in question is a “nutcase anti-vegan”, I seriously doubt they’d be caught dead with any fake meat products.

Sigh. It’s so black and white for you. This is an article about a new faux chicken product. I’m not a fan of faux meat in general, and favor celebrating veggies and whole grains in their natural, unprocessed form, and in the comments section, I explained why.

I also noted my personal dietary approach to utilizing moderate amounts of sustainable animal products instead of going full-blown vegan. If this is what you call “nutcase anti-vegan”, I shudder to think what you’d call those raging meat-a-holics punch drunk on el cheapo crap meat!

D.Jon, don’t be silly. I have no interest in having this post be “all about what (I) would like”. I do, however, heartily enjoy making COMMENTS in the COMMENT section in a blog known for its active COMMENTARY. Don’t you like to comment? Methinks you do, my mustard friend.

I would argue that a cult also requires some level of organization. ONE person who believes eating honey is wrong because it exploits bees is a lone wacko, sure, but when you take a hundred of those lone wackos… THEN you’ve got a cult.

are really going to bring hay-soos into this!? I’m glad you don’t make a big deal about what you eat. I only have a beef (no pun intended) with those who do. I was a raw food vegan before going paleo… So I speak from experience.

…obsessed with how others feed themselves. Feel free to harass some orthodox Jews and Muslims, too, about their bizarre food restrictions. I’m sure they’ll be just as delighted to entertain your opinions as we are.

Can someone please explain how some people choosing to abstain from eating something, gets so many people’s feathers ruffled? There must be some deep rooted issue among omnivores who can’t help but get filled with rage every time the word vegan is mentioned. I enjoy Caroline’s posts, but the comment fights that occur even around the most mundane posts make me want to punch a waterfall.

Often they come to me physically and emotionally exhausted.
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